Traffic moves along Colfax Avenue at Broadway. City officials are considering a bus rapid transit system from the stretch of Colfax from the Auraria to Anschutz Medical campuses. (Andy Cross, The Denver Post)

The thought of dedicating one lane in each direction solely to buses during rush hour in an already congested four-lane corridor is tough to swallow without more information.

The stretch of Colfax from the Auraria campus in downtown Denver to the Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora is one of the busiest in the city at rush hour, with lanes filled with cars and the highest bus ridership of all RTD routes.

Does it make sense, then, to further constrict traffic flow by eliminating two lanes for cars? Won’t that just send the traffic to other east-west streets?

Crissy Fanganello, Denver’s transportation director, said it’s time to stop thinking of finding the best options for cars and instead think about best ideas for moving as many people as possible.

That, she said, is why BRT is being considered for Colfax and is the recommendation after two years of evaluations and input from the public.

The system would include low-slung buses, which provide easy access for people in wheelchairs; dedicated lanes allowing for faster travel; and signal priority to keep the buses moving.

BRT systems have been put in place with success in the Roaring Fork Valley and Fort Collins and are part of the U.S. 36 project between Boulder and Denver.

Colfax’s BRT would attract about 43,000 daily riders and shave 10-12 minutes off of a rider’s end-to-end travel time.

BRT may be a good idea for Colfax, but we are skeptical about constricting vehicle traffic to make way for the buses. We are also disappointed the city isn’t considering removing on-street parking to create BRT-dedicated lanes instead of eliminating lanes of traffic for cars.

The $115 million BRT concept may be less expensive and more practical than the other alternatives that were considered — including the so-called Modern Streetcar — but we need more information to be convinced it is the right move.